FC Pune City Claim Second Straight Win With 2-0 Victory Over FC Goa

​A 74th minute goal by Marcelinho and a 90th minute penalty by Marko Stankovic was enough to hand FC Pune City a precious three points against FC Goa in their Indian Super League encounter at the Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex in Pune.

Both Brandon Fernandes and skipper Mandar Rao Dessai were named in the first XI by Sergio Lobera who also placed Edu Bedia along with Hugo Boumous in attack ofcourse with Coro up front, which looked a deadly combination.

FC Pune City's Sahil Panwar was suspended for this match and it was interesting to see Pune's interim coach Pradhyum Reddy go with a three-man defense as he brings in Martin Diaz in his 11. What that meant, however, was that they would defend with five men if required and attack in numbers, and that is exactly what led to their win against Goa. Iain Hume started with Marcelinho in attack.

The first half was decent in terms of footballing quality. It started slowly but picked up pace in the later stages of the 45 minutes. There were a couple of feisty moments in the half but the referee handled it well.

The first 45 minutes end in Pune with the scoreline unchanged, though both @FCPuneCity and @FCGoaOfficial have had a fair number of chances to convert.

Goa started dominating since the beginning of the second half but Pune got the first big chance of the half in the 63rd minute. A long ball was played towards Robin Singh who headed it to Iain Hume but his shot was wide of the post.

As Pune kept their defence strong, they were equally rewarded in the 74th minute with a goal that was totally against the run of play. Sarthak Golui played the ball to Marcelo who was about 30 yards out. He took a touch and lined up a brilliant shot straight into Goa's goal. Nawaz tried to stop it but it brushed off his fingertips and went into the back of the net.

FC Goa were stunned and could not focus at all for the last 15 minutes and eventually went two goals ahead in the 94th minute courtesy of a penalty. Ali had his hands wrapped around Stankovic in the box and the referee pointed to the spot before the ball was slotted home by Stankovic himself to hand Pune a 2-0 win on the night.

90+3' GOOOOOOOAAAAALLLLLLL! It's all over for @FCGoaOfficial in Pune as Marko Stankovic sends Mohammad Nawaz the wrong way and calmly slots home from the spot!

With this win, Pune have now climbed to seventh position in the Indian Super League table after two consecutive wins. FC Goa, meanwhile remain in fourth position with 17 points from 10 games, one ahead of Jamshedpur in fifth and three behind Northeast United in third. The Gaurs, however, have a game in hand over both the Miners and the Highlanders.